960411

Crime pays $1 trillion a year, U.N. says

MANILA: Organised crime gangs earn $1 trillion a year in profits and are now so economically powerful they pose a threat to developing countries and emerging democracies, a United Nations official said on Thursday.

These profits include $1 billion which is laundered through global financial markets every day, Eduardo Vetere, head of the Vienna-based U.N. Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division, told a Manila conference.

"Organised criminal groups are spreading their operations around the globe, earning annual profits estimated, according to some sources, at $1 trillion worldwide," Vetere said.

That amount almost equals the United States' entire annual federal budget, he said.

"Free trade and high-speed telecommunications make it easier to engage in multiple activities and launder money across national borders, with an estimated $1 billion in crime profits wire-transferred through the world financial markets every day."

Vetere said even some exports of precious raw materials, including chemical, biological and nuclear material, were falling into the hands of organised crime.

"It has become clear that only by tackling organised crime in a concerted manner can we hope to make inroads into a problem that transcends borders and the capacity of national mechanisms alone," he said.

He added: "The toll of crime has become frightening...the financial damage to societies is staggering."

Vetere said the activities of the crime groups ranged from economic crimes, including illicit outflow of capital, fraudulent bankruptcy and tax evasion, to theft of art works, sea piracy and smuggling of human organs.

Vetere was one of two international experts invited to the meeting which President Fidel Ramos' government organised to draw up a programme of action to combat a resurgence of crime in the Philippines, mostly around Manila.

Alan Ringgold, deputy assistant director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, recounted FBI efforts in combatting organised crime groups in the United States, including a new group of Russian criminals from the former Soviet Union.

Vetere said criminal groups were keen to enter developing countries because they face decreased risks in such societies.

"The advantages that such groups enjoy, due to sizeable amounts of money at their disposal and their ability to eliminate competition through intimidation and violence, make risks that would daunt any legitimate business perfectly acceptable," he said.

"The consolidation of their power places in grave danger the growing economies of those countries, particularly in terms of their future development, their competitiveness in the international arena, and their stability."

Vetere also expressed concern at the spread of terrorism and of covert arms trade which creates "a deadly convergence between subversive movements, drug traffickers and local warlords".-Reuter